The Sun. — London, England, 1864-03-07 00:00:00

THE Si ...M P LESWIG-HOLSTEIN WAR. (From the Timer ~Special Correspondant with the Dania Army.) DANIS'a HEADQTJARTERS, SONDERBORG, FEB. 26. The game w e are looking on at here is not a very exciting or edifying one, but neither is it altogether destitute of a certain amount of grim and painful in terest. It is not real regular war, but it connot be said to be anything like a bonafide armistice. We are placed between, the Prussians who are afraid, and the Danes wl'io are unable, to fight—the latter reduced to numb'ars too insignificant to venture far from their own, line of fortifications; the former too prone to listen to that discretion which is said to be the best par t of valour to make a brave dash at a posiiion wl'.ich, however strong, is open to the onset of a storming party, and makes no pretensions to be impregnab).e. But, although we have nothing like a general deliberate action to record, or, perhaps, even to - expect, although time, and the better coun sels it. never fails to bring, lack of proper mettle on the one side, and iron necessity on the other, must soe.ner or later lead to a suspension of hostilities, and bring the quarrel upon that field of diplomatic intrigue and chicane from which both parties still whrink with Teutonic and Scandinavian obstinacy, still there is enough of the horrors of war about us to keep our humane susceptibilities on a perpetual stretch; there are outpost skirmishes, firing upon each other's pickets, and filching, as it were, each other's, precious lives, not quite in obedience to the rules, of what modern warfare ought to be, where no`c a drop of blood should be sacrificed, not an 'dunce of gunpowder should be burnt, without a well-laid plan, a plausible purpose, and a tangible result. I hope I do not overstate the number of dead and wounded on the Danish side, since the retreating army was concentrated upon its safe shelter of Alsen and Dybbol, nineteen days ago, if I set them down at about 300 or 400. Only a few of these lie in the various hospitals which have been hastily got ready for them at Sonderborg, Augustenborg, and other places, where I frequently visit them. By far the greatest part of those who can bear removal are sent to quieter quarters in Fanen, in Zealand, or as far as Copenhagen itself. It would be impossible to deny the Danish sanitary department of the army the praise and great skill and carein the treatment of the sick and wounded. Almost all the poor sufferers I have seen give proofs of that calm and silent endurance which is charac teriitic of all Northern races. The wounded espe cially, are invariably cheerful and sanguine. They sit up in their beds as strangers go past, enter wil lingly into particulars of the hurt that prostrated them, solicit, if unable to hold a pen, the aid of charitable persons to write to their friends at home, and for the rest they are proud, and I may say, glad, of having given their blood for their country, and only long to be free to join the ranks to new risks of life and limb for what is to them, without con tradiction, the holiest of causes. They are on their own soil ; they stand or fall for their hearths and home. The blessings of heaven upon them ; their blood on the head of those, whoever they may be, who provoked an unjust or even an unnecessary struggle ! These thoughts occurred to my mind yesterday, as for the first time since we came here I found leisure to attend the ceremony, which is here performed regularly twice a week, Monday and Thursday, of consigning the dead to the turf of Sonderborg churchyard. The church of Sonderborg, a large but unadorned and somewhat barn-like edifice, only conspicuous for a tall slanting room and tiny wooden spire, after the common fashion of local ecclesiastical architecture, rises on a culminating spot on the hill, only overtopped by the various summits where windmills are erected, and by a bastion or battery called the Church battery, and destined to guard the narrowest passage of the Sound, in the event of the Dybbol position falling into the enemy's hand is most extensive, charming even at this bleak and gloomy time of the year. It commands a long reach of the Sound towards the north ; to the soathewese and south the broad sheet of water called the Vemmingbund, with the open sea as far as the round headland terminating the Broager peninsula, and the strip of land enclosing the Horup Hay. Ia front, looking westward, it is only bounded by the waving eminences of the Dybbol position, crested most of them with their batteries, and sweeping at will a vast extent of the open country beneath. The landscape was in the main yesterday white with snow, but here and there the eye rested on dense woods, the dark bare timber of which broke warm and genial through the monotony of the desolate winter scene. Tne churchyard at Sonderborg must bo in the summer a lovely spot, a large tract of table land, planted with thriving beech trees, tall and tapering; rather indeed a parklike cemetery of modern times than the narrow "God's acre" which ancient niggardliness squeezed up between church and parsonage and set apart for the city of the dead. There were about a battalion of soldiers gathered on the spot, a military band, bat very lately sent hither from Copenhagen to cheer the dulness of our beleaguered existence, the officiating chaplain, a few officers, and still fewer idle spectators. The soldiers seem fain to pay the honours to their dead en famille. It was by them that the grave was dug. Their carpenters made the coffins, their own hands con. veyed their beloved comrades to their last abode, lowered them into it, threw the mould upon it, The bodies to be interred were 22. The coffins were taken one by ore from the deadhouse where they had lain for the last three days. Rough, uncouth boxes they were, smeared with coarse red paint, but still they were coffins, and I could not help admiring the piety and charity which in the midst of the toils and cares of a disastrous warfare, in the midst of incessant and exhausting labours at the trenches, at the barracks, on the field, found leisure to provide the nobly slain with six boards and a score of nails, in obedience to the Northern notions of funeral decency, and with a loathing (which I can respect, even if I do not understand it) to give dust to dust with nothing but a shroud between what was flesh and the earth with which it must so soon com mingle! Well ! the coffins issued forth from the deadhouse one by one, each borne by six stout men, whose strength seemed barely equal to the exertion the dead weight demanded of them; one by one they wound round the avenue leading to the cemetery, till the whc le sad convoy had passed under the gate leading to the mournful field where their burdens were to land. As we walked in the rear of the slowly moving procession, with the harsh notes of the bugles grating on our ears, we went past more than one monument erected in commemoration of the Danes wh o of 1849-50 ; men perished in the field during the war who fought and suffered in this same Schleswig-Rolstein quarrel, which they flat tered themselves their blood had for ever settled, and which now opens afresh, athirst for new blood, and with no good prospect of a more satis factory or more permanent arrangement. A monument of that description, by the way, was raised soon after 1849, at Flensburg, and it bears, as a trophy in honour of the many dead that lie under it, a colossal bronze lion of Denmark. The report goes round the Holstein papers that the Prussians have pulled down, or intend pulling down, the harmless memorial ; but the Danes here have too good an opinion even of their enemies to deem them capable of such an act of wanton vandalism. diers, a single-minded set of men, the beat part of whose valour is a sense of duty and loyalty, fos tered and sustained by religion. Presently the last burial prayers were sa id, th e fi rst shovel .of earth rattled on the coffins, three volleys of mlketry rent the air, the band struck up a livelier tune, and the living turned from the dead, striving to withdraw their thoughts from the affecting scene they were leaving behind by applying themselves to the dattes that lay before them. Two mails came is yesterday from Copenhagen, conveyed by a single steamer, and bearing upwards of 12,000 letters, 2,000 parcels, and 2,000 money orders for the army. It is reckoned that during these last 18 days since the army came over to Alsen every man has, on an average, received six letters 3 that every man has got at least one money order, or registered letter, with money, and a parcel con taining linen, shoes, flannel, eatables, drinkables, &c., anything that the love of friends at home can deem conducive to their comfort or pleasure ; interesting facts all these, proving that every one of these peasant soldiers, no less than every one of their peasant-kindred, can read and write, and bearing evidence, also, to the anxious love and earnest care with which the active good wishes of parents, brothers, wives, sisters, or sweethearts fol low the defenders of the country. There are hardly any illiterate persons among old or young in all Denmark; and the soldiers have been for the most part either too lately recruited, or too recently re called to the standard, to be weaned from those domestic affections which have so strong a hold upon Northern hearts. It is beautiful; it is most laudable! Pity it overtaaks the strength of the clerks of the town and camp post-offices, both of which fell into the most grievous disorder from the beginning, and seem hardly in a fair way of re covering from it. The latestZarrivals from England here bear the date of the 15th instsmeleven days old. It is almost as far as America! FEBRIARY 28. How long shall we be kept hero idling ?" This is a question only to be answered by another qnes tion—" What is going on across the lines ?" It does not seem that any one here knows anythng about the enemy's movements ; it does not seem that any one cares about knowing. May be, by this time, the Prussians are draughting out volun teers and forlorn hopes, to venture on their great general assault : may be, they are only toiling about their heavy artillery, to make ready for.their terrific bombardment. We are thoroughly in the dark here, and having already wasted three weeks, in the expectation of events which never came to pass, we are afraid to go lest the great drama should happen to be performed the moment our backs are turned, and just as we have quitted our stalls among the spectators. The Danes, I am told, are the only people in the world who carry on a war without the aid of spies; partly because they will not admit that for the truly brave there can be such a thing as a surprise, and they profess themselves ready for their foe whenever he may choose to appear, by day or night; partly also because a man willing to serve as a spy is as hard to find in Denmark as an adulterer in Sparta. There are trades and callings to which a Dane cannot be made to stoop ; dirty work which he leaves undone, unless he gets a stranger to do it for him. You find no Danish waiters at a Copenhagen hotel. A native of the country has no objection to domestic service, but he cannot bring himself to be everybody's servant. The part of the clown or harlequin never was performed by a Northman on a northern stage. A Dane has no horror of the theatre,—nay, he is a passionate lover and cultivator of the dramatic and even choregraphic art, but he cannot, for the life of him grin from ear to ear ; his ideas of personal dignity revolt against any exhibition of mere buffoonery. Even in the Middle Ages, when a jester was an indispensable article of furniture in a royal house hold, the Court of Denmark invariably imported its Hans Wurat from Germany. Now a spy's business has nothing in common with a Boots' outstretched palm soliciting veils, or with the wild grimaces of a pantomimic actor. Men of the highest character, patriots most heroically de voted to the best of causes, have deemed their em ployment in the " secret service" of a camp as meritorious and honourable as any display of gal lantry in the field, But there is something in the mere name of a " spy" frcm which a Dine shrinks with unreasoning instinct. The spy's path is a crooked one, and his step stealthy. The action in itself is mean, and cannot be raised in the estimation of its perpetrator by the consciousness of loftiness of motive. All my efforts to smuggle a letter through the outposts, so as to gain three or four days upon the circuitous route followed by the mails through 1 Zealand and Sweden, have been unavailing, owing to the same invincible squeamishness even on the part of the poorest persons here to lend themselves to what they stigmatise as an "underhand in trigue." The feelings of the Danes in these matters are akin to those of that honest mountaineer who, being sent from one of the Forest Cantons to °a plore the nakedness of their enemy's land, boldly knocked at the gates of the hostile city, and an nounced himself as "Der Spion on Uri !" But, although we know next to nothing of mili tary matters beyund our foremost lines at Dybbol, we hear not a little of what concerns the political con dition of the Duchy of Schleswig since the best part of it has been given up to the triumphant invader. There are many people, it seems, to issue orders and t o dictate the law from Rendsburg to Hadersleben, but it is very questionable whether there is any man able to make out what is wanted of him, or willing to submit to the ruler's will, even when it is very clearly conveyed to him. There are three nomi nally acknowledged Powers in Schleswig, and there are a variety of secret agencies striving to bring them all into collision, to counteract one by the other, and to undermine their autho rity. Here the Prussians countenance a pro clamation of Frederick of Augustenburg ; there the Austrians forbid it. To-day the Schleswig Holstein flag is palled down ; to-morro wit is the German black, red, and gold tricolour which becomes parti cularly obnoxious, Marshal Wrangel snubs a depu tation from a National Verein ; and Prince Frederick Charles, his Royal master's cousin, hob-nobs with them. A Prussian General declares that not one of the Danish officials shall be removed from hie post. An Austrian commander winks at the mob breaking into the unfortunate Amtsmann's house, and spiriting him away in the dead of night on the snowy high road, with helpless wife and family tramping at his heels. The Schleswig Hoi steiners were anxious to be united to Germany, but they are not a little astounded at having drawn three Gerksanies on their neck. It was always an arduous task to serve two masters; but here is a case of three patrons to be obeyed, the behests of each of them in flat and flagrant contradiction with the good:pleasure of the others. Holstein, as J told you, was governed by the Danes entirely through the instrumentality of native officers. Left to itself by the withdrawal of the Danish army, that Duchy continued to be the compact and well organised State that it always was,equal to the task of self-g overnment. I n Schleswigfillly the placemen were not exclusively Danes, b u t mostly attached to Danish interests, and, as I expected, the advance of the German " liberators" could not fail to drive them from their places, strik ing thus at the foundations of social o r d er , and plunging the country into hopeless anarchy. Gen. Gabl e n z , a pplied to at Schleswig, other places, by the citizens who at Flensburg, and were only anxious to hear an d t o o b e y," answered that he was a sol " Since that time statesmen dier and no statesman. " have followed in the wake of soldiers. Commis sioners of the great Powers have taken upon them selves the administration of the province, but these Commissioners know nothing of the mind of their Royal and Imperial mind them se l ves. Hence everything is masters, for the good reason that the said masters know nothing about the i r own provisional, and contradi c t ory ; what was done yesterday is sure to be undone to-day, and to-day's measure will not fail to be defeated by some new dispo , ition to-mor row. A swarm of adventurers, the so-called pat riots, either of the Duchies themselves or from some of the adjoining States of sympathising Germany, r e besetting the Commissioners' doors, all eager for the good things that may lie in their gift, For one of these hungry hounds into whosa mouth a While we were discussing such matters, in an under tone, awed by the simple solemnity, the funeral convey had nached the goal of its short journey, the coffius were laid with reverent care, one by one, in the spacious grave, not piled up one upon another, as it is done with the poor at Bethnal-green or Hackney, but all side by side in several rows, like the cells in a beehive, till everyone lay in its appointed place, according to their numbers, the coffin of a Prussian among those of his death-reconciled foes, and the last of the coffin-bearere, helped by the han ls of his comr. des, emerged from the deep trench which was soon to be levelled over the bodies. The chaplain stood now upon the brink of the grave, and his prayers and exhlrtations sounded very solemn and imposing and his blessings on the brave ones who die for the sake of their Fadreland and his well-timed allusions to the One who died for the common Fatherland of all mankind were listened to in deep silence and with visible emotion by the assembled sol bone may be thrown a hundred are sent empty away ; and these do not easily go back to their kennel, but keep whining and snarling, appealing to the Bund, to the great and little Fatherland, to Heaven and earth, against the Austro-Prussian dog in the manger, who hesitates about devouring Schleswig, and will not suffer it to be devoured by others. However natural and even reasonable may have been the yearnings of the Schleswig-Holsteinersl after union with what they call their country, it is not likely that they will at any time fall under any German Government one-tenth as good, as provident and liberal as that of their late Danish masters. The Danes, as I have had frequent occasions to show, carried their leniency to their disaffected subjects to a fault. There was hardly a country in the world where freedom of speech and action was carried to a greater extent. Not only privy con spiracy and rebellion but even arrant treason were winked at. Flensburg patriots, as I saw with my own eyes, went over to Kiel to swear allegiance to the Prince of Augustenburg, both in their own name and in that of their townspeople, and they came back to their homes unmolested and un challenged. The Danish soldiers billeted upon the country people were as inoffensive, as rcspectful, as indifferent to the sour looks of their hosts, as tolerant of ill disguised insult and ill treatment as so many angels. After all the convulsions of 1848.9 there was hardly an instance of a political prosecu tion in Denmark. Some of the self-banished patriots shunned their country, as they had left it for their country's good ; but Denmark had no Spielberg nor Nisida. Amnesty was extended to nearly all who would accept it. It is not so with the men, justly or unjustly, accused of Danish sympathies who are now tarry ing in the Duchies. The so-called patriotic leaders hunt them down without mercy, they set up a mad dog cry after them, and the Austro-Prussian rulers, who ought to see justice done to all parties, are too ready to back:these curs in their full cry. A newspaper is forcibly suppressed in Hadersleben because " it was published in the Danish language ;" and the Flensburger Zeitung is bidden to publish Copen hagen news as " foreign intelligence," under the heading Ausland. The number of citizens, office holders, schoolmasters, and clergymen who are compelled to seek shelter from popular fury, either here or in Jutland, or even in the enemy's country, at Hamburg or Lubeck, become daily more alarm ing. The Schleswig-Holsteiners were tired of their Danish King Log, but have little reason as yet to be satisfied with their Austro-Prussian King Stork. They are disappointed, wrathful and fretful, and they vent upon thot , e who can make no resistance a displeasure which they dare not exhibit before the new taxmasters they were in so great a hurry to have among them. The national German party are anxious, above all things, that the Duchies should be thoroughly and radically revolutionized. It suits their purpose to exaggerate the ill-feeling of the people against the Danes, to rouse them to all sorts of riot and mischief. Nor are the Commis sioners of the two great Powers, especially the Prussians, at all earnest in their endeavours to allay popular fury. There is no man in Sch leswig- Holstein, no man in Prussia, Austria, or the minor German States who clearly knows what he is driv ing at or what weuld answer his purpose best. A vague instinct prompts almost all parties to give mischief full swing, that time may show what is to come out of it all,—what chances each may have to fish in the waters all have contricuted to trouble. Talk of personal union, new Constitutions aim ing at an equitable acknowledgment of the claims of rival nationalities ! Why, if Schleswig-Holstein ever came back to Denmark, its present occupiers will take care that it shall be so fully disorganized and subverted that Denmark herself will find it hardly worth having. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE, CORNWALL. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Truro on Friday—Mr. R. Tweedy in the chair. The report, an abstract of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as read. The Citxtnate.N, in moving the adoption of the report, announced that two gentlemen had been sent to Falmouth by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company to inspect the dock and railway accommodation. They arrived the day before, and were that day making a thorough examination of the works, and had expressed themselves very well satis fied with what had been done. He had no doubt they would report favourably to the Mail Packet Company and to the Government, and that Falmouth would before long be the point of arrival and departure of the mail packets. This would greatly improve the prospects of the company. Mr. T. `VooLLCOMBB seconded the adoption of the report, and the motion was agreed to nem con. rectors, £2l to the auditors, and the secretary's salary was fixed at £3OO per annum. The meeting was then made special, and the directors were authorized to raise on deben tures £O,OOO, at 5 per cent., and the proceedings termi nated. The retiring directors—Messrs. H. Barrow and R. R, Broad, and the retiring auditor, Mr. Rogers, were unani mously re-elected. A resolution declaring the forfeiture of 181 original shares of £2O each for non-payment of calls was agreed to, and a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors concluded the proceedings. THE LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1864. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, but Mr. Layard has passed over a sentence which will give rise to some discussion. On the 7th of January our Ambassador at St. Petersburg writes to Earl Russell, reporting a conversation with Prince Gortschakoff. (Page 504.) In that conver sation the Prince remarked, " it was in his opinion most desirable that the action of Austria and Prussia should not be separated from England and Russia in any question of moment; the four Go vernments happily now thinking and acting in harmony on a question still more important than that of Holstein and Schleswig ought not on this matter to be split into two camps opposed to one another." What is this question—Turkey, or Poland, or the Rhine? Has our Government really been reinvigorating the Holy Alliance, as the Em peror of the French seems in another despatch to think? Russia, Austria, Prussia, and England act ing in concert—what on earth does it all mean ? SATURDAY REVIEW.—The Opposition un doubtedly takes up with great force any point on which it happens to fasten, because its leaders have now the strength of a great following, and because, if a contest is provoked, it feels the pleasure of con scious power. It criticises the administration of affairs, not only from a vague sense of duty and in the interest of the nation, but because it thinks its turn for administering affairs may come soon. Nor can it be said that mere criticism of this sort ends in very little, and that the Opposition has no solid and tangible standing-ground unless it is prepared to advocate, and if in office to pursue, a totally dif ferent policy from that to which the Government has adhered. It is true:that it is a misfortune to the Conservatives that they have no distinct policy, and this is in some measure the fault or rrinci ples they profess and the chiefs they serve under; but it arises in part from the leaders of the Conser vative party being brought at present under in fluences which equally affect the leaders of the Go vernment, and to which loyalty and respect for sorrow dispose them, as politicians, unduly to yield. But even although no distinct policy may be pro posed, it is still open to the Opposition to contend that the administration of affairs is such as to call for the disapprobation of the house. The present Government came into office mainly on the ground that the relations of Lord Derby's Ministry with France were not sufficiently cordial. Lord Palmer ston did not contend that England ought to have adopted a different policy in the Italian war. He did not wish we had landed troops at Venice or crushed the Austrian fleet, but he induced his supporters to think that we ought to be more friendly with France and to show our sympathies with her more plainly. In the same way, at the present time, the Opposition may agree that Eng land is not called on to fight Germany, and that Denmark must be left to herself as Poland was, but it may contend that a change ought to be made in our way of treating continental nations, and that we should not give reason to suppose that we in- tend to afford our friends material assistance unless we are quite clear that this is oar intention. There is as much ground for saying that this would be a basis of policy distinct from that of Lord Russell, as there was for supposing, when the present Ministry was formed, that Lord Palmerston's policy towards France would be different from that of Lord Derby. At the same time, although the Opposition may make it clear that the administration of affairs, and especially of foreign affairs, admits of a palpable distinction being drawn between that which is and that which should be, and although this is quite enough justification for an Opposition, it by no means follows that, even if on this particular point they are right, it would be for the benefit of the country they should come into office. A change of Ministry is at any time a very serious thing, and, with so many clouds hanging over both the New and the Old World, a change of Ministry would be more serious than usual. In this particular de partment of foreign affairs the Conservatives hap pen also to be especially weak. They would have to face either the glaring incompetence of Lord Malmesbury or the deep distrust of the character of Mr. Disraeli which prevails, not only in Parliament and in the country, but in the Conservative party itself. Nor is it to be denied that, however con vinced Lord Derby may be of the necessity of maintaining our present neutral attitude, there would be a general feeling that a war would come more easily if a Conservative Government were in office, and that the very apprehension of this is itself an evil. It is reasonable that a party so strong numerically as the Conservatives should feel themselves entitled to their turn of power, and the country would gain by the many able men to be found on that side having the advantage of official experience; but for the present it may be doubted whether, either for the country or the Conservatives, there is anything better than that they should still be the Opposition, but a powerful and vigilant Opposition. An accidental circumstance also contri butes to make it just now more necessary than usual that a vigilant and powerful Opposition should exist. The Times has ceased to have any opinions of its own. Whatever Lord Palmerston and his colleagues say it applauds; whatever they do it proves to be right in the very nature of things; whatever blunders or faults they commit it excuses or passes by in silence. The motives which have led to this complete identification of the .7imes with the Government are, we may be sure, of the most honourable kind; nor, if personal feeling intervenes, is it any disgrace to pay the tribute of even an ex cessive respect to so old and distinguished a states man as the occupant of Cambridge House. But it is a public lose that a journal which deservedly stands so high, and which contributes so largely to the formation of public opinion, should have been induced by zeal, or admiration, or gratitude, to give up altogether the task of criticising a pArti oular Ministry. When, in the course of time, a Conservative Ministry takes office, we may hope that the Times will feel the invigorating effacts of the change and return to that attitude of impar tial criticism wnich alone is worthy of the highest order of English journalism. The Conservatives well deserve to have a fair trial, and to be treated with the respect due to a body of men who repre sent so much of the wealth and force and so many of the traditions of the country. But we may be sure that there will be plenty of room for fair cri ticism in the conduct of a party which is led by men so dangerous as Mr. Disraeli and so weak as Lord Malmesbury and Lord Chelmsford, and which necessarily, from its very constitution, stand to some degree in antagonism to that great though vague and sometimes dangerous movement which de rives its impulse from the advancing thought of the modern world. LONDON REVIEW.—In answer to a question in the House of Commons, Mr. Layard, on Monday - ktiee revelation of the . position night, made a fun,. - eference to the Deno which we have taken up in : German conflict. Denmark, it seen;:; has a ship of ;_ard in war in course of construction in a private this country. When hostilities were impending, the Danish Minister informed our Government of the fact, and offered to atop the work if we desired it. Our Government did desire it, and orders were given to that effect. Oa the remonstrances of the shipbuilder, however, the vessel was allowed to be launched, subject to the Danish Minister giving his word of honour that she should not leave this coun- try without the leave of the authorities. The con duct of Denmark in the affair had been, Mr. Layard observed, marked by the most perfect good faith. There is no doubt that it was marked nqt merely by good, but by chivalrous faith. Denmark went out of her way to inform us of what we might possibly, though certainly it could not be supposed that we should probably, regard as a breach of neutrality, from which eventual embarrassment might spring. But the question for us is, whether we are in this case bound to be thus neutral or not, and if we are not, the next question is, by what motive this position of neutrality is forced upon us ? Now, as to the first question, it is to be observed that the Dano-German war is not one of those in which we can profess to stand wholly aloof, hold ing nothing but an abstract opinion on its merits, or a barren sympathy with one of the combatants. It is caused by infraction of a treaty to which we were parties. It is an assault, in our avowed belief, utterly unprovoked, upon a State with which we are bound in alliance. We may decide for our selves that we are not so far involved as to be obliged to draw sword in the quarrel, yet we are certainly not therefore neutral. It is not merely our opinions that are ranged, with absolute unani mity, on the side of Denmark, in regard to the justice of the quarrel. But it is that engagements solemnly entered into by us, in concert with other Powers, have been deliberately trampled underfoot by the German States. It is admitted on all hands that we have in these circumstances an ample casus belli, if we think fit to exercise it. This is admitted even by our Government, which long age warned the intending invaders that if they took up arms" Denmark would not be found alone." Now we may choose to leave Denmark alone. But it is a wholly different thing to say to her that we will not only fight for her, ba that we will not suffer her to obtain chips and arms by purchase from us. When we have declared the attack unjustifiable in the eye of public law and of European interests, it is certainly a very strange proposition to lay down that we shall give to the breakers of law and dis turbers of Europe all the benefits of law and all the encouragement of impartiality, and shall prevent the weaker party, the victim of violence, from pro cluing the means of defence. If, then, neutrality is pushed to such excess in such a case, not called for by law, we may next ask why we have adopted it ? The frank answer will be given, that it is be cause, if we had not, Austria and Prussia would have declared war against us. We may take leave to doubt that assertion. Each of these Powers has a good deal too much to do at home without declaring war against Great Britain. Both together are un able to crush Denmark, whose total population is less than that of London. It is not very probable that, with Poland and Venetia in their rear, they would proceed to declare war against Great Britain, But supposing they were really to make such a threat, what then? Is this country really sunk so low that she dare do nothing, however right and just it be, if a foreign despotism announces that it will consider the act a casus bell' ? We know, indeed, that we are already in that position as re gards Russia. A Government despatch, declaring our recognition of Poland as a belligerent, was stopped by telegraph because Russia announced that she would regard its presentation as a casus belli. Trio lesson has not been lost. The Germans know that we have crouched, like a whipped hound, beneath the crack of the autocrat's knout, and they too threaten us with their casus belli if we give cou .itenance to the gallant little nation for which a new partition is in preparation. And it seems Lord Palmerston's Government shrinks back at the menace, and gladly accepts Danish magnanimity as our protection from the danger. How much lower are we to sink before we have drunk the full cup of humiliation ? ExAmlNEß.—Colonel Crawley has found a worthy champion in Lord Longford, who claims for him a general sympathy he will certainly not obtain. Lord Longford complains of the pension granted to the family of Sergeant-Major Lilley, thinking it a wrong to Colonel Crawley. And he truly observes that the public naturally put their own construc tion on the restoration of Captain Smales. Lord Longford would have had Lilley'a family left to beggary, and Mr. Smales denied the reparation to which be was entitled ; for it seems that justice to anybody was fedmehow or other prejudicial to the peculiar case of Colonel Crawley. It was not enough that a good soldier's death was, at least, hastened by an illegal punishment, his family should have been left to want, and Captain Smales shouid have been ruined by an unjust sentence, all to serve Colonel Crawley. The ruin of six or seven persons of different ranks, which has actually been worked, is not enough to satisfy this man's champion. These and other similar extravagances of Lord Longford did not surprise us, bearing in mind the old maxim similis simax gouda, but we confess that we read with amazement the last words of Lord Shaftesbury in answer to a reproach levelled at him for his most praiseworthy part in bringing about the court-martial : "Every private soldier has now seen that no injustice can be done even to the rank and file of the army without moving both Houses of Parliament, and putting into opera. tion all the powers of the State, to inquire into the wrong, and, if it be proved, to redress it." Why, this is precisely what has not been seen. It has been seen that a soldier could be illegally kept in confinement where confinement is punishment injurious to health, and that this wrong, compassed conjointly by his Colonel and two General Officers, has been suffered to pass wholly unpunished. " What safety is there for me ? " asks a noble Gene ral in the House of Lords; but " What safety is there for me ? " is the more real question of every soldier and non-commissioned officer in the service. The articles of war which rule the soldier are also designed for his protection, but of what force in Lilley's case was that most important article which stands in the army in lieu of the security of the habeas corpus. The unfortunate Lilley has passed beyond reach of redress, but the pernicious example remains of a deliberate infraction of the articles of war, and what was done by the two Generals and Colonel Crawley in India may be repeated elsewhere with the same cruel consequences and impunity. The evil precedent is established, and the soldier feels that the articles of war so rigorously binding upon him are of no force to restrain the unjust will of his superiors. The inquiry into the treatment of Lilley without cognizance of the main point, the illegal imprisonment, was nothing better than a juggle. What would be thought of separating the fact of a false imprisonment from the circumstances of the treatment of the injured party, and resting the issue on the question whether or not there was unnecessary severity ? none whatever, no detention of any sort, being justifiable. Would it be any answer to a charge of false impri sonment that the aggrieved was kept in actual luxury ? Could an acquittal be claimed on the ground that he was not subjected to torture ? 111-treatment would be an aggravation of the offence, but the contrary would be no defence. The taking away of liberty is the substantial wrong, and comparatively immaterial are the circumstances, the sort of poison and duress. The question, indeed, of necessary or unnecessary severity was stark nonsense with refe rence to an illegal imprisonment. In fact that ques tion implied that the confinement was legal, which it notoriously and confessedly was not beyond the eighth day. The issue of which Col. Crawley has had the benefit was a false issue, and hence the greatest scandal to military justice of our time or perhaps any other. When the Mutiny Act is before the House of Commons we trust that the article violated in Lilley's case will be the subject of special considera tion with a view to giving it more stringency, if more it wants, or if not, of raising the question why its infraction was suffered to pass unpunished in the lamentable instance at MbOw. It is not, perhaps, generally known that the writ of habeas corpus does not run in the military services, and that the security for liberty in lieu of it is the important article which was overruled by the sic vole, sic jubeo of military tyranny in Lilley'a sad case. We rest our trust in the House of Commons, because it is too clear that in the House of Lords there is not the spirit or the disposition to cope with the bluster and swagger of Mites Gloriosus. In the Commons there are true soldiers who need not, like Lord Longford,proclaim themselves soldi ers , because their gallant services have sufficiently done that for them ; and the sym- SPECTATOR.—It cannot be said that there are any explicit promises of help to Denmark in the despatches now presented to Parliament, but there are many statements which would certainly rouse a very reasonable hope of help in the mind of the Daniph Minister. On the 24th November a memo randum was read to the Prussian Minister which used this language, "Should Federal troops enter Holstein on purely Federal grounds, her Majesty's Govenment would not interfere, but should it ap pear that Federal troops had entered the Duchy on international grounds, her Majesty's Government may be obliged to interfere." Schleswig was not then even threatened, but after such a statement it was certainly not unreasonable for the Danes to hope that the invasion of Schleswig on " inter national" grounds would be resented by us. Again in e despatch dated December 10th, Sir A. Paget " strongly urged" on the Danish Minister to evacu ate Holstein without resistance,on the plea that" if an attack upon Schleswig was made, the other Powers could then interfere on ground which was incontestably beyond the limits of the Confedera tion,"—and again, " that Denmark would, at all events have a better chance of securing the assist ance of the Powers alluded to by retiring beyond the limits of the Confederation, than if she pro voked a war by resisting what might be considered the legitimate authority of the Diet on Federal ter ritory." There, certainly, the hope of aid was held out as a motive to retire. Finally, Lord Wode house, in urging eagerly on the Danish Minister the duty of suspending the " common Constitu tion between Schleswig and Denmark which the German Powers choose to make the casus said, "It was my duty to declare to him that if the Danish Government rejected my advice, His (Her?) Majesty's Government must leave Denmark to en counter Germany on her own responsibility." Den mark very reluctantly yielded to the weight of pres sure thus applied; the Ministry was changed ; Den mark conceded everything she was asked as to the new Constitution, on condition of six weeks' delay, to convoke the Rigsraad, and all to no purpose—Sir Buchanan reporting, after an interview with M. de A. Bismark, "that until Germany has actually shown that she is not afraid to draw her sword in a cause which she considers to be just, and has forced Den mark by arms to remove the grievances complained of, the King will not concede that enough has been done for the national honour." And England, mean while, who has wrung out these concessions—first the cancelling of the patent of March last, then the evacuation of Holstein, then the withdrawal of the Schleswig Constitution, all with the tone of a pro tector who is going to give something in return — when will England consider that enough has been done for the national honour ? Apparently when Lord Palmerston has made a few speeches in " the Cambyses vein," and the people have spent a few thousand pounds on salve for Danish wounds and English consciences. That we have contemplated much more serious resistance, and been frightened into neutrality, we believe the despatches wit!. abun dantly prove. Lord Napier. in a despatch • 6th January, says he told Prince Gortschakoff " that an attack upon Schleswig appeared imminent, and if that attempt was made, it seemed not improbable that the Germans might find themselves confronted by the armed intervention of Great Britain." Bat a wet blanket seems to have been thrown on these intentions by the blank refusal of France. Oa the 24th January Lord Russell wrote to Lord Cowley that her Majesty's Government " seek the concert and cooperation of France, Russia, and Sweden, in order to give, if necessary, material assistance to Denmark in the resistance of dismem berment." This despatch was answered on the 28th January, in a visit from the French Ambassa dor here to Lord Russell, in which he stated that, for various reasons —sympathy with nationalities and offended pride about the Congress are the chief —" the Government of the Emperor will not take' at present, any engagement on the subject of Den - mark." Since then, we imagine, the zeal of her Majesty's Government has collapsed. The Anglo- German despatches have been very carefully edited, pathies and care of these men will descend below their class, and be the greatest for the humblest and weakest in the ranks. Naval and Military Intelligence. THE NAVY. The iron frigate Achilles, 6,070 tons, 1,250 horse power (nominal) having had the whole of her engines and ma chinery fitted on board, got up steam for the first time on Saturday, at her moorings in Chatham harbour. The trial, which was under the superintendence of the leading mem bers of the firm of Messrs. John Penn and Sons, by whom her engines were manufactured, was in the highest degree satisfactory. With the screw propeller disconnected the en gines averaged 70 to 75 revolutions per minute, the boilers giving an abundance of steam, and the whole machinery working with tire greatest smoothness and regularity. The engines were kept working for some time to enable the dockyard officials—Capt. Stewart, C. 8., Mr. Baker, chief engineer, at Chatham-yard, and Mr. Moore, first assistant master shipwright, to report upon the i - esult of the preli minary trial of the machinery. There is still work to be done in the way of fitting and completing the Aulhillee be fore she will be ready for the pendant, and howevei ean gii;:ie the Admiralty officials may be, there is little clotbl i t that the summer will be far advanced before she will be ready to take her maiden cruise. The Achilles now waits instructions from the Admiralty relative to the trial of her engines at the measured mile, Maplin Sands. The Ariadne, 26, 3,214 tons, 800 horse power, Capt. E. W.Vaneittart, is ordered to be paid off in Chatham harbour, and afterwards placed in the third division of the steam re serve at that port. During the last few days nearly 40 shipwrights, all of them skilled mechanics, have taken their discharge at Chat ham dockyard, the reason assigned being the smallness of the wages given at her Majesty's dockyards as compared with the amount which is now to be obtained by first class mechanics at private shipbuilding establishments. It is stated that there art; still a number of hands in the dock yard who are only waiting th 9 that oppOrtl.lnity to transfer their services to private yards. WREXHAM, MOLD, AND CONNAH'S QUAY, The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Wrexham on Monday—Mr. R. K. Penson in the chair. The report stated that at the last meeting there was a pledge given by Mr. Savin that he would commence the works in the course of a fortnight. The directors had been unable to secure the fulfilment of this pledge, and they had, under legal advice, taken such steps as would enable them to insure the speedy commencement of the works. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said the board was in a position, and hoped soon to be able, to have a contractor ready to commence the works, (Ap.. plause,) The pledge Mr. Savin gave at the last half -yearly meeting was that he would commence the work in a fort night. That pledge be had not carried out, and the Board had the legal power to make such arrangements as would cause their lino to be commenced and carried out without delay. Mr. RAWLINGS seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously. Mr. C. Hughes, the retiring director, was re-elected. On the motion of Mr, E. PowELL, seconded by Mr, T. ROBERTS, the directors were authorised to let the contract for the works to some contractor or contractors who would at once proceed to carry out the same. Mr. Overton and Mr. Allmand were appointed auditors, the allowance being £lO per annum. The sum of £250 was voted to the directors for previous services, and : . 250 per annum since the passing of the act of incorporation, and the proceedings terminated. WIVENHOE AND BP.IGHTLINGSEA. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on Monday, at the Guildhall Coffee-house, Gresham-street ; Mr. H. E. Childers in the chair. The Secretary read the report, which stated that the con tractor was making satisfactory progress with the works, and the directors entertained the hope that the lino would be completed and open for traffic during the present year. An Act had been obtained by the Tendring Hundred Railway Company for the extension of their line from Wivenhoe to Walton-on-the-Nase, which would branch out of this com pany's line at Wivenhoe. Powers were granted to the Tendring Company by the Act referred to to run over a portion of Brightlingsea line. The Great Eastern Railway Company had agreed to subscribe one-third of the share capital. The capital account showed that £9,743 had been expended, leaving a balance of £157. The CHA.!RMAN stated that the works were going on satisfactorily, and the Great Eastern Board had consented to subscribe a third part of the share capital which was wanted. There was nothing therefore to prevent the com pany getting on rapidly. He trusted the railway would be open and in good working order early next year, and that Brightlingsea would have what was so much wanted—good access to and from all parts of England. With respect to the line to Walton, it would be utilized by this company. He thought they had reached, fortunately, a point when utilization was the order of the day rather than competition. Companies had found out that by making use of existing lines everybody would be benefited, both the public and the shareholders. That would be the case with regard to this company, and the directors would be always happy to have running over their line and adding to their traffic the trains of other companies. Mr ItontxsoN seconded the adoption of the report, and it was carried unanimously. The retiring directors and auditor were ro•elected, and the proceedings terminated. ANGLESEY CENTRAL. The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Llangefui on Thursday ; Mr. Henry Pritchard presiding. The Secretary (Nix - . Dew) read the report, which stated, that the land had been agreed for as far as Amlwch and the contractors had materials on the ground to construct the whole length of the line, which wou'd be ready for opening to Llangefui by September next. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, stated that Sir R. Bulkeley had given a site for a station at Liang,efui. All the other landowners along the line had be haved most liberally. Mr. 11. B. MITCHELL seconded the resolution, which was agreed to :ern, con. The sum of £3OO per annum was appropriated to the di- GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN. The report of the directors of this company states that the total amount expended on capital account during the past half-year was £20,929, making with the amount previ ously expended £1,748,803, and £223,121 invested in the shares of other companies; total £4,969,924. In addition to the ordinary maintenance of the line 511,070 had been expended on the renewal of the permanent way since July 31 last, and the directors have debited revenue with £14,000, which would reduce the balance outstanding on that account to £12,684. The average rate of interest on the debenture stock was now reduced to 13s lola pet :cent. The Kirkcudbright Raitvay was opened for goods and mineral traffic on Feb. 17. Some requirements of the Government Inspector had yet to be complied with, and the passenger train service would commence when the requisite authority was received. The Bridge of Weir Railway would be opened for traffic in the course of the present month. Daring the past half-year the receipts were £11,625 in excess of those for the corresponding period of the preceding year, includ ing £3,982 for passenger traffic. Tho total receipts on re venue account for the half-year ending Jan,3l amounted to £230,05, and the working expenses to £110,602, including . £14,000 for renewals, leaving a balance of £119,993. To this was added £1,086 from the previous half-year, making £121,079. From this £43,284 was deducted for interest on loans and dividend on guaranteed stocks, leaving £77,796 available for dividend on ordinary stock, which tho direc tars recommended should be at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, payable on the 24th inst„ leaving a balance £3,655 to the credit of the next account. The traffic receipts per train mile were for passengers 3s 9d, and for goods and minerals 4s ; and the expenses is 51d and is 60 respec tively. The Missing Polish Bonds, On Friday afternoon Mr. Leverson, solicitor, of St. Helen's-place, Bishopsgate, applied to Mr. Alderman Beg ley, at Guildhall, for a warrant to apprehend Mr. IN illiam Sharp, of the firm of W. and H. P. Sharp, of 92, Gresham house, Old Broad-street, solicitors to the Russian Govern ment, on the charge of stealing certain land bonds, to the value of £27,500. Mr. Alderman Begley, on hearing Mr. Leverson, declined to issue a warrant upon an ex parte statement in such an important matter, and directed an in timation to be communicated to Mr. Sharp that the appli cation would be renewed on Saturday morning, and the warrant issued in the absence of any explanation. On Sa turday, therefore, Mr. AV. Sharp attended, accompanied by M. de Berg, the Russian Consul-General, and Mr. Poland the banister. Mr. Martin (chief clerk) read the following deposition : —" The information and complaint of Stanislas Foerster, of 59, Rupert-street, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, &c., saith, On the 2d day of March instant I went to the office of 'William Sharp, of 92, Gresham-house, in the City of London, to whom I was introduced as a person who would cash for tee certain notes of the Credit Foncier of the king dom of Poland, to the value of 160,000 roubles of silver Russian currency. That I produced to the said Wm. Sharp at his request the said notes for the purpose of examining the same, when the said William Sharp took violent pos session of the same, and refused to return them to me, alleging that he took the same on account of the Russian authorities, under whose orders he pretended to act. That, after a considerable time, being unable to re-obtain the said notes, I left the office of the said William Sharp for the purpose of obtaining legal assistance, and on ray return the said William Sharp was denied to me by the clerk, and al though I have since been repeatedly to the said office, the said William Sharp has been denied to me, and I verily be lieve that he is keeping out of the way to avoid my giving him into custody.'" Mr. Leverson—As I informed you yesterday, these bonds are the property of Mr. LeLnaire, a manufacturer of guns, of Liege, who holds a large quantity of similar securities, a portion of which (those in question) he entrusted to his agent, Mr. Stanislas Foerster, to bring to this country for the purpose of negotiating. The Russian Government choose to call them stolen property, but the fact of the matter is that these bonds have been taken as spoil in the course of the war between the people of the Polish nation and the Russian Government. That the Russian Government have considered them as the spoils of war cannot be doubted, as they have levied a tax upon the whole kingdom to re place the deficiency caused by the loss of them; and, in falling into the hands of the Polish belligerents, I again assert that they are the property of Mr. Lemaire ; that he received them in payment of guns supplied, and I am wil ling to admit, to a people in arms against the Russian Go vernment, and that he has sent them to this country for negotiation, the coupons being actually like bank notes, but payable at a specified date instead of on demand, and bearing interest in the meantime. I have repeatedly en deavoured to see Mr. Sharp, and it is with great reluctance I found it necessary to apply tor a warrant against him, but I am glad he has rendered that course now unnecessary. I have endeavoured to show you, sir, that no order of the Russian Government can justify the commission of a felony, neither can anv order of the Russian consul, who is the brother of the notorious General de Berg, justify the spolia• tion of my client. Mr. Foerster, in attempting to negotiate these bonds, was referred to Mr. Sharp, who first asked to see them, and then, thter comparing the numbers with a list in his own possession, put them in his pocket, by which act the felony was c anplete ; although after some altercation Mr. Foerster obtained from Mr. Sharp an acknowledgment in writing, it must be borne in mind that Mr. Sharp is a soli citor, and that he brought his knowledge and ability to bear upon a foreigner ignorant of our language and our laws, and gave him the receipt already alluded to with the view of purging the felony. That, however, I submit, would not be held to be a condonement of the offence previously completed —at all events, it would not be a question for this court to decide; for in the case of the " Queen v. Bernard," the Lord Chief Justice, in charging the jury, told them that questions of law would arise with which they would have nothing to do, as in the event of a conviction these points would be raised before the Court of Criminal Appeal, and upon that he directed the jury to find the bill and leave the questions of law for another court. Now you, sir, are in the position of the grand jury, and I ask you, upon the dictum of the Lord Chief Justice who tried the above case, to com mit Mr. Sharp for trial on this charge. Alderman Besley—You have charged this gentleman with a felony ; and although it is admitted before me that he is in possession of the bonds, there is no pretence for such a charge. Ido not see any of the elements of a felony in the case on your own showing, and I am therefore bound to dismiss the charge. Mr. Poland—The charge is dismissed upon the opening statement for the prosecution, and I have now, sir, an ap plication to make with regard to soma of the parties before you. This does appear to ace to be a case of very grave im portance in a great commercial community like this of the city of London, and 1 therefore feel it necessary to lay before you the facts relating to they bonds. In June, 1863, the Russian Bank Treasury at Warsaw was broken into, and a large number of bonds, some of which are the subject of the present proceedings, were stolen. I believe the total value of the bonds stolen was about 4500,000. The government of Russia, having ascertained the number of the stolen notes, and being responsible for the payment of them, gave notice to the public generally, in order to protect innocent people from being defrauded, that they would not pay these bonds. The bonds are useless to us, and useless to the parties now applying for them, except for the purposes of fraud. We have them in court, and are willing to deposit them with you, sir, or any officer of the court—but we will not allow any one to make a market of such valueless paper, by cir culating it amongst persons who are ignorant of its real character. We have adopted this course to protect the in nocent; and I now ask you to deal with Mr. Foerater and Mr. llernisz under the Police Act, for the unlawful posses sion of stolen property. You will have before you the facts that they did not take these bonds to a regular stockbroker, and h theyethaartgeof u h n a l v a e w r f e u f l used to give any account of them. I therefore ask for a summons against those part i es to answer the shalle niai ascer tainro if these b on d s are bopnoassreotnheapnrodptehrteyn we of mr. L of Liege, and have come fairly into the possession of these people, or if their present account is all a fiction. Alderman Besley—l shall grant the summonses applied for, in order to give your clients, Mr. Loverson, the oppor tunity of clearing themselves. All parties then retired, Mr. `harp retaining possession of the bonds. ART WATCH CASES.—" In Benson's great case are same fine specime ns Exhibitior. pupils of th e S c h ools of Design. T h ey are, per h aps, on the of engraved watch cases , designed by the whole, the b est specimens of engrave d watc h cases in the Chrono meter, duplex, lever, h or i zo ntal, repeaters, centre seconds, keyless, snit seconds, " - -Clerk enwe ll News, October 2 7 , 1862. Chrono and every description of watch adapted to all clim a t es. Benson's illustrat ed p am p hlet on watch es, free by ) os t for two stamps, con t a i ns a s h or t hi story o f wat chmaking, With prices, from 3 to 200 gu i neas each. It sets as a g u id e in the purchase of a wa t c h , an d ena bl es those who live in any part of the wor ld t o se l ec t a wa t c h , an d h ave it sent fre e and sate by post. Pr i ze me d a l an d h onoura bl e mention, cla sses 33 and 15. J. W. Benson, 33 and 31, Lud gate-hill, Lo n d on. Estab li s hed 1749. Watch send clock maker, Prince of W a l es. by spe ial w arran t at appointment, to HAUL the [ADV:ERTISE; ENT. ] — C onsu raption, all nervous, bilious, liver, and stomach complaints, in every stage, are only ag gravate* and accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which had been considered hopeless. We quote a few—Cure No. 62,914. Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men had abandcned all hope, of her. recovery from the last stage of pulmolary consumption, with fearful cough, expectoration, exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks, emaciated to a skeleton. She is now, thank God, a perfectly healtt Y, blooming, fleshy girl.—N. Lange, Commissaire de Police. Cur e, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frinsley Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spittingof blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness.—Cure, No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure, No. 54,815. The Rev. James T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, of indigestion and torpidity of the liver, which had resisted all medical reatment. In tins, 11b, Os 9(1; 21b, 45 6d ; 51b, his; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 40s. Barry du Barry and GI, No. 77, ite,gent-street, London ; also Fortnum and Mason; and all grocers and chemists in every town of the United Kingdom, FATAL ALPINE EXCITBSION, On Sunday morning, Feb. 28, a young Russian gentle , man, M. B-, and an English friend, Mr. G-, set out on an Alpine ascent of some difficulty. Accompanied by four guiaes, and well provided with all the necessaries for a similar excursion, they left Sion at 2 o'clock a.m., and proceeded to a village called Arden, whence they com menced the ascension of the Dent d'Ardon. Owing to the heat of the sun and under the influence of the warm wind which prevailed the snow was exceedink7 l l soft, and on nearing the summit it became almost impossible to advance. Still persevering, however, in their hazardous enterprise, the travellers waded, so to say, through the yielding snow, when suddenly the mass on which they were gave way and dashed down the side of the mountain with fearful velocity. At the time of the accident all were pro- , prly attached by a new rope, made on purpose for the; ascent. Ia some unaccountable manner the rope snapped in two places during the descent, so that when the avalanche reached the valley below, after a slide of 600 metres (or 1,800 feet), the travellers were no longer roped together. The two gentlemen and one of the guides were entirely buried in the snow, another guide partly so, and the only two uninjured were the remaining guides, who were attached to the two ends of the rope. Notwithstanding the most heroic efforts of these two men, only two of the party could be got out in time to save their lives. Mr. B- was found dead in a recumbent position, with his head downwards, and it was only after two days' continued search that the missing guide's body was found. This sad affair has thrown a gloom over the surrounding neighbourhood, and those who knew Mr. B- will long remember the deep impression that his untimely fate has left behind, The funeral took place on the 3d inst., at Lausanne, la the Ouchy burial ground. It is but right to add that the inhabitants of the Valais . took the most kindly interest in the affair, and had it not been for their prompt and eager assistaece the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers would most likely still have beet where they were buried alive. COUNTRY MARKETS. LEICESTER—SATURDAY. There was a moderate show of wheat to-day, with a fair attendance of the trade. Business flat ; prices as follows: —New white wheat, 42s to 45s ; red, 39s to 41s per 36 stone. Old red, 38s to 42s per 36 stone. Barley, malting, new, 32s to 36s per qr.; grinding, 27s to 28s; old oats, 25s to 28s; new oats, 21s to 23s per 24 stone. Bean* old, 40s to 42s per 38 stone ; flour, 26s to 32s per 20 stone. YORK— SATU RDAY. There was a limited show of wheat at market to-dart and the sales were slow—selected sorts being at forma quotations. A middling supply of fine barley, with a fai t show of other descriptions, but the trade was not brisk. Oats in steady demand, and at about last week's rates. quiet business doing in beans. Wheat, red 37s to 40s Oats.... White do .40s to 44s Beans Barley .26s to 32s Peas Malt, 58s to 60s per qr. ; rye, 30 s per qr l . l 3lBBs ur ss ttt , 29 000 to 30s per sack. GRANTHAM-SATURDAY. • - ---- Old white wheat, 43s to 46s ; red, 38s to 42s per 368 t. ; new white, 42s to 468; red, 398 tol4lB. Malting barle9; 33s to 36s per qr ; grinding, 28s to 30s ; oats, old, 238 0 26s ; new, 20s to 24s ; beans, 34s to 36s ; peas, 34s to 375. NORWICH—SATURDAY. There was a fair supply of wheat, and prices were abou t the same as on this day se'nnight, with a very dull trade. There was a dull demand for barley, which sold at abou t late rates. White wheat. 44s to 47.3 1 Red wheat 40s to 43° Malting barley ...35s to 378 1 Chevalier barley 35s to 36 „ ° , Distilling d 0..... 29s to 30s 1 Oats.. 24s to P 7 Flour, 27s 6d to —s Od per sack from the miller NOTTINGHAM-SATURDAY. The supply of wheat to-day was about an average oll e : The demand was sl o w, an d l a t e p r i ces were re alised . f°,; fine sorts; other kinds rath er e h ea p er . B ar l e y i n limite d demand, and sales were wade at prices rather lower tha,P last week. Oats ware in slow d eman d. B eans ver y elute' —White wheat, from 42s to 47s ; red wheat, 40s to 4 Barley—malting, 30s to 37s ; grinding, 27s to 30s. , old, at 24s to 30s Od; new, 19s to 25 5 . B eans so ld at 3' % to 42s per qr. ; new, 34s to 365. „ Flour, fine, 34s to 38s ; seconds, 29s to 32s per sack. -FRIDAY. lay, and the market very dul l ' or Irish grain, but a tendeugi s. Indian corn and lotto a. s. d. 0. 0 Oatmeal B 0 0 t t o o . 1 . 2 00 Beans.. ere . —0 to 0 Rapeseed oto , 0 Bakers' flour Indian corn DUBLIN• A fair supply of wheat to-c Prices not materially altered downwards. Flour very slo' in improved demand. Wheat, white.. 24 0 to 26 6 Do., red .. 21 6t024 0 Do., new .... 0 to 0 Barley Oats .... Do., black — 0 to 0 Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. 0 Australia and Mauritiu s , v i a S ou th amp t on . Mar. 14' via Marseilles Mar. , Lirazil and Cap e V er d e, b y B r i t i sh packet M a r. u r : , Cape of Good H o p e , Ascension, and St. Helena Mar. I v o . (lhina, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Mar. 4 , via Marseilles Mar. i Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampt on Mar. ll ' India (Calcutta), and C e ylo n , v i a S ou th ampton M ar . ' lo, via Marseilles Mar. 1 ,5, Endia (Bombay), via Southampt on M ar . +,, --via Marseilles m a r. ~,' Portugal.... ...... Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via South am pt on Mar. -„ via Marseilles Mar. ,16, Newfoundland Oporto and Vigo U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Mar. ' 133' , U.S. packet 4 , by Canadian packet Man 1 0. W.C. of Africa, Madeira ' and Teneriffe mar. , Bahamas, via New York Mar. 1 0, Mexico • . • • Mar' All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 m r. 3° ' California. and British Columbia.. A Births. a ANSTRUTHER.—On the sth inst., at 24, Onslow-i6 1104 S,W., Lady Anstruthor, of a son. BULBECK.—On the 4th inst., at Havant, Mrs. Bulbe° l4 a daughter. CLARK.—On the 2d inst., at Chessington, Surrey, the of Gordon W. Clark, Esq., of a son. 1 4 13 ' OCHTERLONY.—On the I s t i ns t., a t St. A n d rew 's, 0f the wife of Sir Charles Metcalfe Ochterlony, Bart., daughter. Marriages. KEEP—Horms.—On the sth inst., at St. Martins''.,, - , Fields, Henry Stouton K ee p, E sq ., o f Crookharel„.l'olo shire, to Alice, fifth d aug ht er o f t h e late Win. 5' Esq., of Woodhouse Farm, Kingsclere, Hants. A i' ROGERSON—FOSTER.—On the 3d i ns t . , a t St. Th°;;00: Heaton Norris, Lanca s hi re , G eorge Russell Roeter of Liverpool, to Sarah A nn , d aughter of Mr. J. xv"„, of Levenshuaae, near Manchester. Deaths. AnuN.—On the 4th inst., a t P r i nces•park, Liver Pool, Aikin, Esq. (le o BLACKBURNE.—O n the 3d in s t., at I s lington. ; 50 , iJlackburne, Esq., l a t e o f 60 , Mar k -lane, c i ty , age d Sao' COOKE.—On. the 3d inst., John Cooke, Esq., J.P I clesfield, aged 78. JO— CRIG ~,RTON.—On the 4th inst., at North Shields, A-- Crighton, Esq, ,4 11 CANNON,—On the 2d inst., at Epsom, William - d Esq., aged 67. E4't DUBERLEY.—On the 3d inst., James Duberley, Gaynes H a ll , Huntingdonshire, age d 75. STIJP Apv MARSHALL.—At Chickerell, Dorset, the Rev. Marshall, 8.D., aged 90. 4 112 RICHARDSON.—On the 4th inst., at Richmon d , $ Mr. Christopher Richardson, aged 76, London : Prinzad and Prbiished by WILLIAM AL , — Ig o. , l o l t of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Offic e , S oil Strand, in the Precinct of the avoy, in the idg litiddloox.—Monday, flaretv, aft.